I live and work on the traditional lands of the Menang Noongar people and pay my respects to Elders past, present and future. Sovereignty was never ceded. This always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

The huge class action of 1905 current and former detainees on Manus Island who are suing the Australian Government starts today. The lead plaintiff is Mr Majid Kamasaei. This is why he is suing Australia:

an Iranian man, Majid Kamasaei, who was held in the Manus Island offshore ‘processing centre’ for 11 months before he was transferred to Melbourne. When a teenager in Iran, he suffered severe burns to his face, rescuing his brother from a fire. When he arrived at Manus Island his prescribed medications (necessary to keep the scar tissues on his face and neck from cracking and contracting) were confiscated, his condition deteriorated and he alleges that he was denied medical treatment. He claims the lack of treatment was used as a tactic to pressurise him, with staff telling him that he could either return to Iran and resume his medical treatments there – or wait on Manus Island for his asylum application to be processed, with no treatment in the meantime.

Dear Prime Minister

To search content of 'Dear Prime Minister' blog:

On July 30 2016 I started writing letters to the Prime Minister of Australia protesting Australia's indefinite detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru. There are more than 1500 asylum seekers trapped in offshore detention since 2013. These are transcripts of those letters. I am still waiting for a response from Mr Turnbull.

The Confined Hearts Project: Penny Ryan's project involves making and showing 1468 small terracotta human hearts, one for each person currently detained on Nauru and Manus Island as part of Australia’s policies on people seeking asylum.

Voices from detention

The Messenger is based on thousands of voice messages sent by Abdul Aziz Muhamat, a refugee currently detained on the Australian-run detention centre on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, to Michael Green, a journalist based in Melbourne.

Behind the Wires is an oral history project documenting the stories of the men, women and children who have been detained by the Australian government after seeking asylum in Australia.